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Prologue2,039 words
First Model2,549 words
Moving Forward1,209 words
Surprise and Warrior1,409 words
The Fun of Model Building1,670 words

The Fun of Model Building

"And now you know one of the pains of this hobby," Pearl giggled, as she, Twilight, and Sunset left together. "Kinda surprised it lasted this long. Still better than it being out of stock all the time. Way too many factions have that problem."

Sunset nodded, glad that the storm had now passed. "Or, even worse, they nuked the entire faction in the End Times. Far too much was lost with that stupid waste of literally everything!"

Twilight wondered what any of that meant, but the dark looks that came to the faces of her friends told her that it was probably best not to ask. "I can't even be mad either. It wouldn't be right of me to expect to be treated any differently from someone else."

Sunset nodded, as a bus pulled up. "Well. You three try not to get into a three-way." She smirked. "Don't think Rainbow would appreciate that."

Pearl groaned. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

Sunset's smirk grew as the trio boarded. "Don't play dumb, Pearl. I've seen how you look at Twilight here." She leaned and whispered. "She's much better looking as a pony though. Both of them."

Twilight rolled her eyes as Pearl blushed.

"Still no idea which Stormhost you'll do?" Pearl asked as Twilight was deep into her newly-purchased battletome. "You don't even need to play one of the named ones. There are so many unnamed ones out there."

Twilight nodded. "I know, but I just don't know. I liked the Knights of Azyr when I did my Liberator last night, but now? I'm not really sure."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "That's what you get for picking Stormcast Eternals. It's why I picked Soulblight Gravelords. Much easier to pick a sub-faction for them."

Pearl nodded. "Why do you think I have three armies already? With my Sons of Mallus, there's so little known about them that I can make up a lot of stories for them myself. Kinda the same with my Blades of Dawn, though they're also kinda based on Dad's side of the family."

Twilight nodded. "And your Astral Templars? I doubt I'll paint mine as that Stormhost."

Pearl smirked. "Kohaku. A lot of it was based on having to deal with him for years as a constant pain in my ass. Even knowing now why he did it and what he is, I couldn't help it. He doesn't care either way of course."

Twilight giggled, as the bus stopped in front of Pearl's house, before waiving goodbye to Sunset. That sounded about right.

"There's no way that I will keep all of these," Twilight grumbled as she pulled out all of the contents of the Warrior box. "What am I supposed to do with... Whatever the Kruleboyz are?"

Pearl shrugged as she flopped onto her bed. "Hold onto them anyway. Maybe one of your friends will want them? I know our Fluttershy plays Orruk Warclans, which is what the Kruleboyz are part of."

Twilight snorted. "Fluttershy? Really? I find that hard to believe."

Pearl giggled. "That's what a lot of us thought too. But she can be a proper follower of Gorkamorka when she wants to be. She really gets into character when we're playing a game."

Twilight only sighed as she opened one of the books that came in her box and started to read. Maybe there was something she was missing then.

For a while, the only noise was the occasional page turn or grunt of interest from the princess. Knowing what it was like to be in the zone, Pearl left her to her reading and started working on her newly bought Dracothian Guard for her Blades of Dawn. Now she could finally get started on the Lightning Echelon, which meant Fulminators for now. Not her favorite models, but she had to start somewhere. Her Drakesworn Templars would come last.

Maybe then she could finally get started on her Stormdrake Guard. She'd been chomping at the bit to build and paint the Knight-Draconis.

"Is there a reason why I should give a name to this Warrior chamber?" Twilight suddenly asked, now reading through the game book that came in the box. "They're called the Auric Lions here. But I'm not doing the Hammers of Sigmar. I know that already."

Pearl shrugged. "I mean. You don't have to. But it makes them feel more real if you do." She ticked off each of her armies. "My Sons of Mallus are the Blackstars Exemplar chamber. My Astral Templars are the Howling Griffons Sacrosanct chamber, and I'm still working out a name for my last one."

Twilight rolled her eyes. Just her luck. Something for the future then. Right now, she was rather interested in the Valedictor Temple. She only wished there was something in Equestria that worked the same way as what they had. Think of everything she could remember?!

Pearl, meanwhile, felt her phone vibrate. Pulling it out, she found a text from Twi. She sighed as she read it. "Well. Looks like it's just the two of us now. Other you got called home for some kind of family emergency, and she's not coming back over tonight by the sound of it."

Twilight's heart fell as she heard more to the girl's voice than she let on. It had begun the night before. "You had a crush on her, didn't you? I saw how you looked at her at Spectrum. Me as well, and then at Kohaku's birthday as well. Rainbow saw it as well."

Pearl winced, but there was no accusation in the princess's voice. She finally slumped with a sniff. "Yeah. I did. This was years before you came to Canterlot High. A few years before Sunset did as well. It was part of why I tried to be friends with her. On top of seeing just how badly Twi needed a real friend. Dean Cadance could only do so much. But I could only take being blown off or just flat-out ignored before I quit!" She sniffed, as tears began to gather. "You two have no idea how much it hurt when we met at Spectrum, and Twi didn't even remember my name until after you told everyone."

Twilight's head fell. "Do you hate me for being with her then? You know how much I love Twi. I don't care how weird it is to some. We don't need to justify it to anyone."

Pearl wiped her eyes and tried to smile. "Maybe a part of me is. But those feelings died a long time ago. I'm not gonna rip you two apart for something that'll never happen now." She giggled. "Maybe you can be a three-way with pony me if you ever meet."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she pulled out all she needed to get her models started. She doubted that would ever happen. They didn't even know Equestria's Pearl Rose.

"Are you going to keep all the extra parts?" Pearl asked as Twilight finished her Knight-Arcanum. "Every self-respecting gamer has a bits box where we keep all the extra parts we don't use on our models. Never know when they might come in handy for a custom model or a kitbash."

Twilight nodded as she set the unhelmed heads off to the side for the moment. She was not ready to try and pain flesh just yet. Perhaps one day she would try. "I will now." Shaking her head, she began to snip out the pieces for her Vindictor-Prime. Call her old-fashioned, but she found it nice to see there was an option to make the prime a woman. So that's what she would do.

Only fitting her shield was a pain, but it finally slid into place with a bit of wiggling. Next came the banner bearer. Twilight was actually looking forward to painting the Banner of Apotheosis when the time came. It reminded her of the old battle standards from Unicornia and the Pegasus Enclaves. She was also glad to see the Redeemer symbol was now molded into the left shoulder pad. It made things easier since she wouldn't have to add a transfer now. Again, the shield took some wiggling to get into position, but it too soon slid into place.

Sadly only one more Vindictor was able to be built as female, but Twilight supposed it would be too boring to make them all the same sex. Variety never hurt she guessed. Perhaps it was just her, but all the shields took more work to fit into position than seemed normal, but they all fit nonetheless. Adding the little bits of scenery to the bases made them feel all the more complete.

Pearl nodded happily as the last Vindictor was finished. "That went a lot better than I thought it would, princess. I'd leave the Knight-Arcanum off of her base. At least until you paint the base. It's so much easier that way."

Twilight nodded as she slid the rest of her models into their bases. That made sense. "Now what? I've still got too much energy."

Pearl looked outside. The sun was low in the sky now. "It's too late in the day to prime them now. Unless you need to be back in Equestria in the morning, we can do that in the morning." She giggled at the sheer amount of paints Twilight had bought. "I think you've got more than enough paints."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I couldn't make up my mind. Neighsay didn't seem to mind though." She looked at the sprues that remained. "Are you sure you don't want these? I won't use them."

Pearl rolled her eyes as she stood up and took them, along with the empty Stormcast Eternals sprue. "I'll ask Fluttershy when I next see her. She'll probably want them. She's talked about getting Krulebozy for a while now." She pulled out her phone with a wide grin and began typing. "Pizza it is then!"

Twilight giggled. That sounded good after a long day like this.

Author's Note:

So Pearl's Extremis Chamber is based in part on this little story from the newest Stormcast Eternals battletome:

Anaka found Vexonroth curled atop a mountain of ogor dead. The Draconith's gaze lingered on the horizon, blood still drying where it had splashed across his amber scales. Anaka did not blame him: she had hardly felt the need to cleanse her own wargear. As the Astral Templar came to stand beside her bonded drake, Vexonroth favored her with an acknowledging hiss.

"We wrung the truth from the survivors," Anaka said. "More of the ogors come."

"Good," Vexonroth's accent was rough and odd- the voice of one clearly unused to speaking Azyrite and doing so only as a courtesy. But the fact that he was willing to try was a good sign that this alliance was working. "We will rip them asunder." Silence stretched between them once more, until Vexonroth shifted in place and snarled, letting an agitated burst of smoke spill from his nostrils.

"These... things," he said at last, claws flexing to eviscerate tattered ogor corpses. "They stink of the Drogrukh. I despise them. Do you think the Twin Princes felt such fury when they..." He trailed off then, but Anaka roughly understood. It amazed her, sometimes, how mercurial Vexonroth could be: he was a force of relentless savagery on the battlefield, yet when away from it, he was akin to a brooding, uncertain younger sibling in need of subtle reassurance of his place in the realms. Still, would she have been any different had Stormcasts' Long Wait lasted centuries more?

"There's purity in rage, aye," Anaka murmured, reaching over to offer a gentle pat. "Take heart. When this last wave has broken, we will have claimed another stronghold for the God-King's folk."

"Wonderful," Vexonroth deadpanned. As Anaka's glare bored into him, the Draconith let out a rumbling chuckle, finally giving a fanged grin. "I jest. You, warmblood, I like."

Before Anaka could respond, the air was split by distant roars and bass tribal drumming. On the horizon, the Astral Templar could pick out the ragged banners and brutish shapes that marked the ogors' advance. Instantly, her hunter's blood quickened. She knew Vexonroth felt it too. Deftly climbing into the Draconith's saddle, Anaka raised her blade even as Vexonroth stood. As her reptilian companion loosed a gout of blazing flame, Anaka felt contentment wash through her. In this, at least, they were as one.

"Well then. Let's be about it."

Pearl's Astral Templars, and by extension mine, are based on this little story from the 2nd edition battletome. Plus a few bits and pieces elsewhere.

"That one's mine!" Balarus Kingslayer barged through the nomads of the caravan towards the looming wyvern-thing that was decimating its horsemen. One of the attacking orruks swung its double-handed cleaver low as he threaded through the melee. Balarus vaulted over the blade as if he was wearing no more than the loincloth of his former life, and landed with a crunch on a sneaking grot scavenger. He nearly lost his footing, bouncing hard off another orruk's back before sprinting away. No time to tarry. He had thicker necks to slash.

"Out of the damn way!" shouted Balarus, slamming through a thin line of mud-smeared pikemen towards his quarry.

The giant scaled beast bit the head off of a warhorse, hurling the bloody remains into a phalanx of Liberators even as its orruk rider took the head from a Fulminator. Balarus heard the whinny of horses as a hurtling wagon careened into a ditch nearby. He ducked behind its thick wooden slats as crude orruk arrows shot overhead, then jumped aboard the coach plate and eyed the creature he had come to kill.

The stallions thrashed, wild-eyed, as the monstrous orruk warbeast spread its tattered wings. Balarus tensed and leapt, spear raised high. Sun glinted on his gore-spattered plate as he came down to embed his spear deep in the monster's spine, just as his father had taught him. He hung on for grim life with one hand, as the roaring beast flapped into the skies. The orruk warlord atop the creature turned with a rattle of chains, battle-lust glowing in its red eyes.

Balarus grinned. This was what he had been made to do, and it felt fine.

And this little story from the 3rd edition Core Rulebook.

Liberator Scipion smashed his shield into the orruk's face and felt a satisfying crunch of broken bone. The Astral Templar grinned through a mouthful of bloody spit, only to be bent over double as his metal-clad foe responded with a savage kick to his unmentionables. Grunting, the two warriors slammed into each other, clawing and hacking, until the rocky shale beneath their feet gave way and they tumbled down the hillside.

The orruk came to a halt first, landing square on his broad back. Scipion crashed down atop the brute, then rolled away and to his feet as the greenskin's cleaver swiped at his crown, missing only by a gnat's wingspan. They had landed on a cracked and pitted boulder, dotted by patches of oxide-stained quartz.

"Ah, but this is a fine dance," Scipion said, chortling through swollen lips, blood drool spilling down his ruptured breastplate. His opponent hauled himself upright, piggish eyes fixed upon him, and roared something unintelligible. In answer, there was a low, rumbling sound, and the boulder beneath them began to rise into the air, sending Scipion and his foe tumbling once more to land amidst a pile of bones and splintered skulls.

The living rock stretched out two ape-like arms. As it turned, Scipion saw a great wedge of a face, with two beady yellow eyes set beneath a rocky brow.

"Get you gone, troggoth," Scipion grunted. "I'm not done with this one yet."

Roaring, the troggoth lashed out with one lumpen fist. Scipion ducked just in time, but his orruk foe was not so lucky. Its head came apart like a pulped juga fruit.

The troggoth was turning its attention back to Scipion when an almost comical confused expression crossed its face. The earth the monster stood upon cracked apart in a shower of soil and shattered stone. A great, serpentine mass of shining scales surged forth, its circular maw enveloping the troggoth up to the armpits in a single, gulping, bit. The slab-headed brute roared in a mixture of surprise and agony before the rockgrinder wyrm swallowed it whole. Then, the immense creature's fang-stuffed head swiveled towards Scipion.

"Well met, abomination," he said, cheerfully. "I believe you owe me a worthy fight."

And with a howl, he raised his shield and hammer and charged.

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